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Tim Rosaforte - June 25, 2012

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Golf World Senior Writer Tim Rosaforte joined Monday’s edition of Morning Drive from the locker room at Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida. Marc Leishman made his first impression on the world of golf in 2009 with some clutch play in the PGA TOUR Playoffs to qualify for the TOUR Championship but the real back story on Leishman takes place in locations like Australia where he grew up and San Diego where he competed in the Junior Worlds.

Riviera Country Club is making a push for a future U.S. Open by making some course modifications and re-doing their practice range. The Pacific Palisades club hosted the U.S. Open in 1948 but as many things have changed over the years, Riviera Country Club is making presentations to the USGA to prove that they would be able to properly support thousands of patrons as well as many corporate hospitality areas. Pebble Beach is hosting the 2019 U.S. Open and with the 2020 edition likely being held on the East Coast, the earliest that Riviera would host a U.S. Open would likely be 2021.

He was at Los Angeles Country Club last week with Fred Couples to take a look at the work that Gil Hanse did on the North Course which will host the Walker Cup in 2017. Rosaforte described the look of the course as resembling Royal Melbourne in a number of ways. The course is certainly capable hosting big events but whether or not they will actually do so depends on the membership. He also noted that the Playboy Mansion is located adjacent to the North Course at the Los Angeles Country Club and while you cannot see too far into that property from the club, he did say that he could see a monkey cage on the Playboy Mansion property from the course.

In his second visit to Monday’s Morning Drive, Rosaforte began by talking about his Golf World Monday article where he spoke with Davis Love III about the recent success of Americans in the Major Championships. He told Rosaforte that he was not getting too excited by the three straight Major wins by Keegan Bradley, Bubba Watson, and Webb Simpson because he remembers 1997 when he, Justin Leonard, and Tiger Woods all won Majors and then went to the Ryder Cup and got defeated by the European Team. So although he is very pleased to see Americans playing well in 2012, he is not jumping to conclusions about the U.S. team’s chances against Europe at Medinah later this year.

Greg Norman’s presence at the Constellation Senior Players Championship is a big deal because it is a reminder to everyone of how great of a player he is and how much everyone wants to see play tournaments more often. Norman will not play many tournaments because of his business interests but many people hope that if he plays well, he will play more tournaments. Rosaforte is interested to see how well he will play in Pittsburgh and hopes it will lead to success at Turnberry in the Senior Open Championship next month.

Rosaforte is going to Pittsburgh this week and he is planning to play at Oakmont Country Club which is one of the hardest courses in the world. He feels very happy to be a guest there and because of his schedule, he may only be able to play 14 or 15 holes and thanks to that schedule, he is actually hoping to be able to say he shot in the 70s at Oakmont.